Mitch Duncan talks family and football ahead of his 300th game for Geelong
It takes an army to get a player to 300 games. Mitch Duncan’s consists of wife Demi and the four kids he says have inspired him to keep his Geelong career alive into its 16th season.
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Mitch Duncan’s son Ollie is the king of bringing dad back down to earth.
At the age of five and having just started prep, he doesn’t hold back on the honest feedback — an element to Duncan’s game that has significantly shifted from his first game in 2010 to this Thursday night’s, his 300th.
Back then, it was just him — meeting now-wife Demi that same year — with the added layer to games these days being the logistics of managing four children, Scarlett, Ollie, Archie and Parker.
What the Cat would change of that, however, is absolutely zero.
“You’re never fully focused in on football, well, you are, but you’re a dad first as well,” Duncan said this week.
“The first thing sometimes Ollie says after a footy game is ‘Dad, why did you kick it out on the full? I hated that!’.
“They give you great energy and I kind of want to keep playing purely for them, because they enjoy it so much and probably don’t realise how lucky they are at all. To see them every day is obviously a driver as well.”
Duncan loves “the juggle”, the school pick ups, the ability to be there alongside Demi while also navigating an elite football career for so many years.
And he’s always liked hard feedback, after all, as the only Geelong player featuring on Thursday night to have been coached by Bomber Thompson.
“Scarlett’s eight this year, so it’s nearly half of my career that I’ve had at least one. And now there’s four,” he said.
“I’m really fortunate to be at Geelong and we live five minutes from work, so that helps. The way Scotty (coach Chris Scott) sets the environment allows us to be parents first, as long as that when we are at training, you’re training with high intensity and we’re there to train and get better.
Mitch and partner Demi have someone they'd like you to meet... ðŸ˜https://t.co/0phLmwZRULpic.twitter.com/BHaFpSngfe
— Geelong Cats (@GeelongCats) July 25, 2017
“It’s a really lucky thing. I’m able to do school drop off and pick up, if I prioritise my day correctly, and I think that definitely helps. I have an amazing wife that does a lot, a great mother-in-law and mum that help as well and a step mum that comes over, and dad – we’ve got so much support and I’m forever grateful for that, and it makes my job a lot easier and being able to focus on footy and do what I love doing.”
Duncan, 33, started his senior football journey at just 16 with East Perth, with an illustrious junior career before he was selected with pick 28 by Geelong in the 2009 draft.
He hadn’t really thought they were interested, but was keen to move east and give footy a shot, albeit resigned to the notion it would be tough to crack into the reigning premiership team “for at least two or three years”.
He played the first game – eight that season – and claimed premierships in 2011 and 2022 to now sit sixth in Geelong’s all-time games played list.
“Once you cement yourself in the game and the side, it’s like, why can’t you play 300?,” he said.
“That was my thing — why shouldn’t I be able to do it? You do your best to work hard and commit to all the things that you do to be able to play good football, and then hopefully the rest kind of takes care of itself, really.”
Dedication to recovery has helped, and while Thursday night will be just his fourth game this season, Duncan says he was well-briefed for what has been a “really enjoyable” period – a “transitional” year doing more coaching, coding and communicating.
He’s out of contract at the end of this season, but says there’s still “too much water to go under the bridge” as to whether he’ll be in hoops next year.
He might, he might not. He’s OK with that.
“I still feel like if my body is in good condition, my head’s in the right space, then maybe there is an opportunity to keep going,” Duncan explained.
“But I’m kind of setting up for if it is my last year, just in case, and doing all the things that I can to make my transition as easy as possible when the time comes. That’s what I think is keeping me refreshed, and I think it’s helping my footy, to be honest.
“The way that I’m approaching things and having these conversations with people at the footy club, it’s refreshing. It’s hard to say that I’m not going to play, but it’s hard for me to say that I am going to play as well.”
It could all end Thursday night, Duncan laughs, if Scott dares to mention the S word – substitute.
“I’ve already told him I’m not playing if he does that. I’m either playing my 300th, or I’m not,” Duncan exclaimed.
“I might just retire then. (Paul Chapman playing as sub in his 250th game) has been in the news lately … hopefully he’s been watching.”
Away from the field, Duncan’s Cats family has been rocked by the tragic passing of Adam Selwood, brother of long-time teammate, club great and Duncan’s close friend Joel, just three months after the death of his twin brother Troy.
The emotional backdrop to his own celebration isn’t lost on Duncan, who has reinforced to Joel — a fellow 300-gamer at the Cats — to put family first.
“It’s been a sad three months, hasn’t it?,” he said.
“It’s really sad. Just devastated for the family and I don’t really expect him to be there or anything like that. What I try and do is give him the space he needs and when he wants to talk, I’m here for him, I’m here for Scoot (Scott Selwood) and their family.
“Everyone at the footy club is probably in a similar boat, giving him space and we just let him know that we’re here if he needs us. The game will continue to go on, and that’s sometimes the hardest thing.”
News of Selwood’s death emerged just hours before Geelong’s game against Port Adelaide on Saturday.
“It was a weird Saturday morning, just letting it trickle through everyone and everyone kind of found out at their own pace. We didn’t really address it much as a whole group, because every individual has got a different relationship,” Duncan said.
“I know what Joel would want, and that would be for us to go out there and perform at our best and get a win, really. That’s what we were lucky enough to do.”
Originally published as Mitch Duncan talks family and football ahead of his 300th game for Geelong
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